Staying Late
by Totidem Verbis
Summary: "I, well, you see, it's really nothing. Yes, nothing to see here, no worries! Hahaha!" Botan forced out. Hiei's head tilted, and something in his eyes shifted as she rambled on.


**Author's Note:** This was written for a request prompt on tumblr, and it got a little longer than I planned so I decided to post it here. This is an all-human AU, for a little extra clarification.

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"You're staring again." Botan jumped nearly ten feet in the air and then immediately started swatting the top of Yusuke's head as her supposed friend doubled over in laughter. Yusuke's face was red by the time he'd collapsed into an office chair, but Botan's cheeks were only a little pink as she propped her fists on her hips and glared down at him.

"I am not staring at him," she stated and turned her face away. Everyone thought Yusuke was just a punk, but there was a reason that he was the number one detective at the Spirit Agency. Not that Botan had anything to hide! Because she hadn't been staring, really.

"Aww, come off it, Botan! You were totally staring at the shorty," Yusuke continued to tease and crossed his arms.

Botan's step-brother owned the Spirit Agency, a detective agency that he'd inherited from his father, and Botan loved her job. She really did. Most people just classified her as a secretary, which she was most of the time these days. In the early days, when Koenma had first taken over the business, she'd been a bit of a detective herself until they got on their feet. Then came Yusuke, who had a knack for tracking people down and solving cases, and he somehow convinced his best friend to come along with him. So sometimes Botan went out with Yusuke and Kuwabara on cases, and sometimes she just stayed in the office and enjoyed not having to run around the city.

It'd been a few years since Yusuke and Kuwabara joined them at the Spirit Agency, and Botan had met all kinds of interesting people over the years. Still, the third person who had joined them full-time was still a bit of a mystery to her. Hiei had joined at nearly the same as Yusuke and Kuwabara, but he kept to himself. The only person he ever seemed to open up to was Kurama, who owned the flower shop across the street and who had helped the guys out from time to time. In the past few years, Botan could count on one hand how many times Hiei had an actual conversation with her. Excluding all business-related conversations, of course. Hiei was a perfect professional, even if he was a little brusque. (Very brusque.)

"Hey, he didn't say something mean to you or anything, did he?" Oh great, now Yusuke was using his Big-Brother voice on her. Botan waved her arms, prayed that Hiei was far enough away to not be able to overhear any of this, and forced herself to smile down at Yusuke.

"Hiei did no such thing! I was just lost in thought and trying to think of what to get Keiko for her birthday," Botan quickly rambled out. It had the desired effect. Yusuke slumped in the chair and groaned up at the ceiling, because he still hadn't found anything to get his fiancé, and Botan resisted the urge to pat herself on the back.

It looked the Great Detective Yusuke Urameshi wouldn't find out today that she had a hopeless crush on Hiei.

 **.xXx.**

"You can stir in a little honey to mask the taste and—Botan, are you alright?" Kurama stopped mid-conversation and then let his eyes follow where she was now staring. Botan knew when Kurama noticed Hiei in the coffee shop, because his slight confusion shifted into something more calculating, and Botan pinched her thigh under the table while mentally telling herself to pull it together.

"Oh, sorry! I was just making a list of everything you said," Botan said quickly. She tapped the side of her head when Kurama looked curiously at her, to let him know that it was a mental list, but he didn't question her further. Unlike a certain other friend of hers, who never knew when to let something go.

Hiei joined them at their table a moment later, and Botan was only able to stay for a few minutes before making a weak excuse about needing to catch up on paperwork before running from the coffee shop. Okay, she didn't run, but it was a very brisk walk! She just couldn't sit at the table with her crush and his very observant best friend, so it was better for her to just take off. The office was empty when she returned, which made sense because it was lunchtime, and she groaned as she slumped behind her desk.

She really needed to get a handle on this crush thing, before she went insane or something.

 **.xXx.**

Two weeks after the coffee shop incident, Botan really did have to work late to catch up on paperwork. Yusuke and Kuwabara had both looked a little sheepish at the little mess they'd made while catching up on their last case, and they'd both offered to stick around to help her out. Botan knew that Keiko had something special planned for Yusuke and that Kuwabara had a date with Yukina, so she'd sent them both home. There was no point in keeping them at the office when they both had plans, and Botan was plan-free so she could stay at the office for as long as she wanted.

Plan-free…that was just another way of saying that she had no life outside of her job. Since the office was empty, Botan groaned and let her forehead thunk against the top of her desk. All she had waiting for her at home was an empty fridge and a pint of ice cream in the freezer. Well, the ice cream was something worth looking forward to at least. She could also find a nice movie to watch, and that wasn't a _horrible_ way to spend a Friday night. Slightly depressing, maybe, but not horrible. She just needed to finish a few reports and then she could go home. Maybe she'd take a hot bath and then eat her ice cream.

Decision made, Botan was just about to get back to work when she felt the back of her neck tighten. She might be a secretary now, but there was a time when she was on constant alert. She knew she wasn't alone in the dark office, but she kept herself loose-limbed as she straightened up. Whoever was in the room with her was walking up behind her chair, and she made a show of obliviousness as she leaned back in her chair and stretched her arms in the air. She listened to the pops of her shoulders and fingers as she stretched, heard a single footstep right behind her chair, and reacted.

Her chair made a quiet noise as she swung around with one foot outstretched, but the person easily jumped over her swipe and even caught the simultaneous punch she had thrown. Botan was just getting ready to punch with her left arm when she caught sight of spiky black hair and red eyes, unmistakable even in the low lighting of the office, and she fell back into her chair with a quiet huff.

"Hiei! You scared the beejeesus out of me! What are you still doing here?" she asked quickly. She had both feet planted firmly on the ground, but Hiei was still holding her right wrist. Uh-oh. Maybe he was mad that she had tried to punch him after trying to kick his legs out from under him? "Sorry about trying to attack you! I thought you were someone up to no good!"

"Hmph. Forgot to turn this in," he said and held out a folder with his free hand. His other hand was _still_ holding onto her wrist. Botan reached up to grab it and then blindly sat it on her desk behind her, and she raised a brow in question when Hiei didn't release her. As far as she could remember, Hiei had never touched her. Not even accidentally.

"Well, it's all turned in now so you are free to go!" Botan said and beamed a smile up at him. Hiei always turned away when she smiled at him, which honestly stung just a little, but now he was just looking calmly down at her.

"Why do you do that?" he suddenly asked her. Botan felt her smile fading, and Hiei's hand shifted on her wrist. It was an innocent point of contact, loose enough that Botan could easily break the hold, but Hiei's skin felt so warm against hers.

"Do what?" she asked curiously.

"Smile at me." He looked truly confused, and it was not adorable. Not one little bit.

"Because looking at you makes me happy." Oh no, she said that a little too genuinely. She'd said the exact same words to all of her co-workers, but there had always been a little chirp in her voice and a pointedly-wide smile to back her up. She'd never said it so quietly before, or so seriously.

"Rumor has it, I make you nervous." Hiei's thumb was circling over the pulse point in her wrist now, which wasn't good because Botan could feel her heart pounding a little too fast. Like she was nervous, but she wasn't feeling nervous.

"Wh-who said that?" As soon as she asked it, she knew the answer. Yusuke, definitely. Kurama, possibly. Maybe even both of them. Those meddlers! "Oh, who cares?! You do not make me nervous, Hiei."

"Then what do I make you?"

"Wha-?" She'd expected the conversation to be over now, but Hiei was still looking curiously down at her. Still holding onto her wrist and circling her fast-beating pulse. There was a look in his eyes that she couldn't classify, and she swallowed a little too audibly as she continued to look up at him.

"Your heart's racing. I know you're not afraid of me. If you're not nervous, what is it?" he asked her. His voice was quieter than she'd ever heard it, she was more used to him yelling or snarling insults at Yusuke and Kuwabara, and she felt her mouth go dry at the tone.

"I, well, you see, it's really nothing. Yes, nothing to see here, no worries! Hahaha!" Botan forced out. Hiei's head tilted, and something in his eyes shifted as she rambled on. There was…no, she had to be seeing things. There was no way that Hiei was looking at her with _heat_ in his eyes.

Before she could ramble out a little more to keep from accidentally blurting out that she'd had a crush on him for quite a while now, she was abruptly pulled up out of her chair. She squeaked as the front of her body collided against Hiei's, and she tripped over her own feet as she sat heavily on the edge of her desk. Hiei had moved to stand directly in front of her, so that her knees were brushing against the fronts of his thighs. Since she was sitting on the edge of her desk, they were eye-to-eye instead of her being a couple of inches taller. Hiei was still holding her wrist in his hand, but she could look directly into his eyes.

"Botan." It was just her name, but it was _Hiei_ saying her name. Heat curled low in her stomach as his eyes caught and held hers, and the lightbulb in her head went off.

"You have a crush on me too!" she suddenly realized. Hiei was looking at her with a heated look, and it wasn't out of anger or anything like that. "Wait, how'd you know?"

"Because I'm actually good at my job." Oh, right. He was a very good detective. Botan wanted to defend her friends, but now felt like the wrong time to bring up Yusuke and Kuwabara. Then Botan realized that Hiei hadn't said that he didn't have a crush on her, he'd let that go uncontested, and Botan suddenly felt giddy. Giddy enough to smile widely again.

"You like me," Botan said and forced herself not to laugh when Hiei scowled at her. Hiei liked her too!

"Foolish woman, try to keep up." The hand on her wrist slipped down so that he was holding her hand, Hiei was actually lacing their fingers together!, and Botan was so caught up in that little revelation that it took her a moment to realize that Hiei had leaned forward and kissed her.

Not wanting him to think that the kiss was unwanted, she responded immediately and let her legs part so that he could step closer. Her thighs wound up on either side of his hips as he pressed closer, and Hiei had one hand fisted around her blue ponytail to hold her still as his tongue parted her lips. Botan sighed as he licked into her mouth and reached to grab at the side of his black tee shirt, and she crossed her ankles at the small of his back as he kissed her until she felt dizzy. The room was even spinning when he pulled back, and she sighed happily as his hot lips moved down the side of her neck.

"I'm not, that easy, you know," Botan sighed in between kisses. Hiei lightly nipped the side of her neck where she was most sensitive, and she felt her thighs tensing as a quiet moan slipped out of her. Hiei tightened his hold on her hair as he started to suck on the sensitive skin, and Botan didn't even care that it'd probably leave a mark because it felt amazing. No, wait, she'd been making a point! "You gotta, at least, buy me dinner, first."

"There's a restaurant down the street," Hiei whispered directly into her ear. Which was playing dirty, but Botan was currently feeling too good to argue the point.

"What are we waiting for then?! Let's go!" Botan used her hold on Hiei's hand to pull him behind her, and she barely remembered to lock up the office before pulling Hiei down the street towards her favorite restaurant.

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 **Ending Note:** Thank you for reading!


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